When Blades Collide
by Shevil
Summary: Finally free after 8 years in prison, Katarina du Couteau comes to discover that her father had gone missing, the family's estate had been sold off, and the company she had been entitled to since she was ten years old is now being run by a mysterious man by the name of Talon. She's determined to make things right again, but at what cost? Modern Day AU
1. Chapter 1

The air tasted fresh and sweet on her tongue. Katarina du Couteau stepped into the cracked and dried asphalt street for the first time in eight years, no shackles nor chains holding her back. It had been too long since she could walk so freely.

The over-sized grey sweater and sweatpants the prison had offered her hung loosely on her slim frame, but she was too elated to care.

For eight years, she had been incarcerated in the New York Federal Prison. That was the only life she had known outside of her childhood and now she was free to experience all the things that she had missed out on. If only she could find out where to go. Old friends didn't know where she wound up, her father had made his last visit months ago, and no one lived anywhere relatively close to New York.

"You have anywhere to go?" the much too familiar prison guard grunted as he pushed her across the barbed wire gates of the prion. Katarina stared at the silver with a wistful look. She would go far from here as soon as she could. This was the last time she would ever see those gates. "Du Couteau, have you called for your ride?"

"No, I don't have anyone to call," Katarina snapped back.

"Well," the guard said, smirking, "since you're no longer a prisoner, maybe I can finally get myself some feisty redhead action." He reached to brush the back of his hand against Katarina's cheek, but she caught his hand quickly.

"Yes, Draven," she said sarcastically, "you do that. And when I'm back in prison for maiming you, you can just explain to Darius why you're all beat up."

He laughed. "Nonsense. I believe it's my duty to inform you that you have no weapons on you at this point in time." Draven winked at her.

A man cleared his throat from behind the two of them. Katarina and Draven turned around to see the head prison guard, Darius, glaring at Draven.

The prison guard talking with the now ex-con grumbled something under his breath and opened the manilla folder in his hands. He scanned the pages inside and fished out a page and handed it to Katarina. She only stared at the paper with wide eyes and a confused look on her face.

"That's your emergency contact for when you're released. Your father gave it to us when he lasted visited," Draven explained, agitation on his face.

"But... that's my sister. She's supposed to be in Europe or South America or wherever she'd supposed to be for her next photoshoot. We haven't spoken for years."

"Obviously, there's a been a change of plans. Call her."

Katarina sighed. There was no other option and she didn't want to be standing outside in the cold with this perverted and cocky prison guard. Out of all of them to choose from, of course the system would give her the worst guard to spend her last day with. She fished out the flip phone the prison had given her, dialing in the number listed on the paper.

After a few rings, a rather low and seductive voice answered. "Hello, Lady Cassiopeia here."

Katarina was a bit taken aback by her sister's greeting but she shook it off quickly. "Um... Hi, Cassie, it's me, Kat..."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "Well, it's been a long time, sister."

"Yes, it has. So, uh, listen, I just got out of prison and I need you to pick me up."

The girl laughed from the other end of the line. "Yes, I know. I've been expecting the call for months now... Daddy told me what to do."

"Dad? Where is he?"

There was a sigh. "I'll tell you when I get there. I'll be there in twenty minutes." She hung up.

Katarina stared at her phone. Her sister had sounded different than she remembered.

"You good?" Draven the prison guard asked, amused.

"Yeah. My sister's coming."

"Ah, that's too bad, I could've shown you a great time with Draaaaaaven."

Katarina only rolled her eyes, tapping her foot lightly on the ground as she waited for her sister to arrive.

* * *

Thirty minutes, a rainstorm, and several threatening comments later, a white BMW pulled up to the curb in front of the prison. The window rolls down to reveal a young blond woman, face covered by a pair of dark sunglasses.

Katarina's face lit up when she saw her sister, familiar even after all those years. Without another glance back at what was her home for the past eight years, the redhead almost pranced to the car. When she was inside, Katarina leaned over and hugged her sister tightly.

"It's actually been so long, Cassie," Katarina murmured into her locks. "I've missed you."

Cassiopeia enveloped her sister back, clutching at her shoulders. "And I've missed you as well. It's nice to finally have my sister back."

Katarina smiled as she pulled away. "It is good to be back. How have you been? Still doing your old gig?"

"I've been alright," Cassiopeia responded, "a lot has changed since you left. And no, I'm not a model anymore. Got tired of everyone poking and prodding me. I'm back in school; you know, I've been thinking I'd be a good lawyer. Something that _I_ can have control over."

"Interesting choice," Katarina replied. "But what changed?"

"You'll see soon enough, don't worry. What do you plan on doing now?"

"I don't know, Cass. I've been in jail for eight years, pretty much no education, and twenty-six years old. But you know, I was promised Dad's company when I turned twenty-five, so I guess I still have that to look forward to."

Cassiopeia frowned for a brief moment but quickly replaced it with her happy expression. Katarina didn't catch it though, to Cassiopeia's relief. She didn't want to be the one to bring down Katarina's hopes. She only nodded in response. The two continued their chatter, what sisters do. It was a miracle to Katarina that Cassiopeia still remembered all the minute details about her: the way she used to dress, the way she talked, the kind of music she liked.

"So you're living in New York City now?" Katarina questioned as Cassiopeia started to direct the car through the packed streets of the city.

"Mmhmm, it's nicer than being all alone in that mansion." The blond turned into a parking garage on the side of the street and parked in the first available spot.

"What's wrong with the du Couteau Manor?" Katarina asked jokingly. "You know, I'll probably get lost in those halls if I went back there."

Cassiopeia chuckled. "You'll get to see it in due time. For now, why don't we get you settled in at my place?"

Katarina agreed without another word and followed Cassiopeia inside the building. The lobby of the apartment was quite barren – only a cream colored sofa and a lonely lamp pushed off to the corner. It was in much better condition than what Katarina was used to from the prison, but she couldn't help wrinkling her nose at the furniture.

 _Why would Cassiopeia live in a place like this?_ she thought as they rode up the clunky elevator.

They rode it to the top floor though and when they stepped off, a pair of double doors was in front of them. Cassiopeia unlocked them and opened up the door for Katarina to step in and grasp the apartment. It was the opposite of barren. The floors were shiny hardwood and the sofas and chairs were white leather. There was an open kitchen with a bar built into the counter. There was a hallway to the left, where the bedrooms were.

"Welcome home, Kat."

"Thank you for doing this, Cassie, really."

Cassiopeia smiled slightly. "What's family for?"

* * *

It wasn't until the evening that Katarina saw the newspaper clippings on the shelf in the living room.

One of the headings read, 'President of du Couteau Enterprises Vanishes'. An article was titled 'New President of du Couteau Enterprises?'.

There were several images of the man Katarina knew and admired – her father, Marcus du Couteau. He was one of the most powerful businessmen on Wall Street, an expert in stockholding and trading. It was incredibly astounding for Katarina to find anything like these articles. She looked through the pile of clippings, stopping when it became too much to bear.

She called Cassiopeia over, interrupting her cooking.

"What is this?" Katarina demanded, holding up the first clipping she saw. "What are they saying about Dad?"

Cassiopeia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You weren't supposed to see those."

Katarina glared at her sister. "What are you not telling me?" Cassiopeia didn't say anything. "I get out of prison and less than 12 hours later, I find this. I'm your sister for fuck's sake, Cass! You haven't visited me once in three years, haven't picked up when I called at all. And now, you're keeping all these things from me!"

"Fine," she finally said. "You want to know what happened? I'll tell you what happened, everything you've missed out on."

Katarina clenched her fists out of anger and preparation for what she was about to hear.

"After you were sentenced, Daddy's staff at the Manor began to doubt the purity and honor of his work. They slowly stopped coming in and left him and me alone. Daddy's old advisor, Jericho – you remember him right? – quit and found himself as the CEO of the Noxus Firms. I tried to everything I could to be his advisor and even tried to convince him to hire me as his advisor and offered to go back to school for business, but he wouldn't let me.

"No, he hired a new man to be his advisor and personal assistant. I've never met him in person, never needed to, but word on the street is that he used to be the youngest hitman for the Mob. I have no idea why in the world Daddy would pick someone like that, but he told me that the new guy was clever and would be the one that could fix our situation.

"But then Daddy didn't come home from his business trip to California in January. I reported him missing, but police never found any trace of him." Cassiopeia's voice cracked then. "I couldn't live alone in that gigantic house, my jobs came and went, and I had no family left to help me then. So I packed up my things and and moved here. It's been a good time, living here. The company, though, it went to Talon, that man Daddy hired." Cassiopeia looked at Katarina with glittering eyes, tears welling up. "This is all we have now, Kat. Until we find Daddy or if something happens to Talon."

Katarina's head spun. She really had missed a lot when she was locked up in her own little world. Everything she had hoped for and survived for through prison was no longer there. It had all vanished. Cassiopeia was doing all she could to get by, physically and mentally. And she should do that too. Find a place that would hire her despite her record and work to find any leads on the whereabouts of their father. But she wanted to do more. Her family had fallen apart when she was gone. She needed to protect her little sister and get back what was rightfully theirs. No one could steal from them.

"We're going to get through this, Cassie. I'm back, and I'm not going to leave until I know that we have everything back."

Katarina pulled her crying sister into her arms.

 _I will make this family whole again_. Katarina promised silently to her sister. _I'll find Daddy, I'll get back to company, and we'll make the Manor blooming with life again... Someday, it_ will _happen._

* * *

 _and that's my new story thing for League... it's been bouncing around in my head for a while so I thought I might as well get it onto paper._

 _if you liked it please leave a favorite, follow, or a review–they really encourage me to keep writing these for you guys! Thanks!_


	2. Chapter 2

_thanks for all the support I got last chapter! i really appreciate it! now enjoy this chapter!_

* * *

The streets of New York City on dull, grey, rainy mornings were brighter than what Katarina remembered. It was only her second day of being free and nothing felt better.

Katarina sat back on the white leather couch by the window, holding a cup of tea in her hands. She stared out the window and sighed softly. She had forgotten how peaceful life could be. No blaring alarms, no constant threat of guards, no other girls fighting for space and commodities... Katarina had missed this life. She watched the blinking lights on the buildings and the clouds pass by, it was peaceful.

In habit, her fingers slowly drifted up to her face, tracing the scar that ran through her left eye. The incident which had left her with the scar in the first place was what had gotten her thrown in prison. It had marked her with ugliness and shattered pride. She sighed, forcing herself to stay focused on the present and the future. She couldn't think about that right now.

But she whipped her head around at the sound of soft footsteps behind her and let out a breath when she saw that it was only Cassiopeia, walking out from her room. She donned a white silk kimono robe and big fluffy white slippers; Katarina rolled her eyes slightly at her sister's sleep outfit.

"Good morning, Cass," Katarina greeted from the couch. "I made tea."

Cassiopeia almost jumped when she saw Katarina, but quickly recovered as she walked over to the kitchen counter. "Oh, good morning. How did you sleep?"

"Not bad." Katarina continued to eye Cassiopeia's outfit before asking, "is this what you always wear to bed?"

"Yes...?" A pause. "Why are you looking at me like that? You used to wear this all the time back then!"

Katarina smiled. "I just wore tank tops and shorts."

The younger woman feigned a look of horror. "That's unacceptable," she said, slightly sarcastically. "We should go shopping then." She gestured to Katarina's clothes, an oversized sweater and sweatpants. "Seriously, is that what they give you in prison? And they claim that they prepare their prisoners for the real world. No offense."

Katarina smirked at her sister's outburst. She had also missed this. "None taken."

"So let's go!" Cassiopeia exclaimed. "Let's go shopping for clothes today!"

"Wait, I never sa–"

"It's be good for your mental health, your style, and we can talk and gossip and all that fun stuff!" With every word, Cassiopeia's grew higher and more excited. For a moment, Katarina could almost see the fifteen year old girl that was trapped inside her sister. She hadn't hung out with Cassiopeia since she was fifteen; Cassiopeia was twenty-two now.

"Sure," Katarina agreed. "You can go get ready while I cook some breakfast. It's not like I have anything better to do right now."

Cassiopeia's green eyes lit up. After pointing out where all her ingredients in her kitchen were, Cassiopeia almost skipped back into her bedroom while Katarina was left alone in the kitchen, attempting to figure out how to put together pancakes and French toast.

* * *

Cassiopeia walked out of the bedroom an hour later, dressed in a green crop top, navy skinny jeans, and an emerald tiara headband. It earned another eyeroll from the older du Couteau.

"What's with all of your fancy outfits?" she questioned.

"Nothing!" Cassiopeia exclaimed. "It's my normal look! The green brings out my eyes." She exaggeratedly gestured to her eyes.

Katarina laughed. "Yes, I see that." She pushed the plate of French toast and pancakes over to the other side of the counter. They looked somewhat intact, but nowhere near the correct shapes of squares and circles. "I tried. They don't taste half bad though."

Cassiopeia hesitantly picked up what looked like a disfigured pancake drenched in maple syrup. She took a small bite out of it and smiled. "Yum. It tastes better than the last time you cooked." She shoved the rest of the pancake into her mouth while she searched for her purse. "And here, let me give you something nice to wear."

She disappeared into her bedroom and quickly returned with a lacy black blouse and grey skinny jeans. "Here, Kat, I think these would fit and look lovely on you."

Katarina gave Cassiopeia a slightly incredulous look, but took the articles of clothing anyways. Disregarding her sister, she quickly changed in the living room. When she finished, a look of genuine surprise crossed the younger woman's face.

"You know I'd hate to say this, but you almost look better than me in those clothes," Cassiopeia mused.

"Ah, don't be silly–you're a runway model, I'm a felon. Our clothing styles are nowhere near similar."

Cassiopeia smirked at her sister. "But we _are_ sisters, so there's that."

Katarina chuckled. "You know, I'm still wondering how that's possible."

Cassiopeia grinned as she ran around the kitchen gathering her things. It was a strange sight for Katarina. She didn't really recall doing anything like this for a long time. Finally, after watching Cassiopeia retrieve a pink wallet and several papers and shoving all the items into her black leather bag, it was time to go.

They walked to the car in silence, Katarina looking around to observe her various surroundings. She was sure that everything was the same as she remembered it from yesterday, but it still looked so new to her. The buildings, the cars, the people just going about their day while engrossed by their little handheld devices. Even Cassiopeia had one of those things.

In the car, Katarina could only watch in amazement when Cassiopeia pulled out her iPhone to put on some music. She watched as her younger sister calmly tapped erratically on the screen, and suddenly, music sounded.

"So are you ever going to teach me how to use one of those things?" Katarina asked teasingly. She picked up the device from the cupholder. She turned it over in her hand, getting the weight and feel of it.

"It's not a knife, Kat," Cassiopeia murmured, laughing. "Press the button."

Katarina complied and a look of amazement flashed across her face when the phone came to life. "Interesting..."

"Don't worry, we'll get you one soon enough," Cassiopeia assured. "Today is our shopping day after all."

* * *

Katarina shook with discomfort and anxiety when she and Cassiopeia entered the mall. It was a familiar place – Katarina remembered coming here years ago with her old friends, hanging out and wreaking havoc. But that was nearly a decade ago. Now, it looked populated with a different kind of people and a different kind of stores.

Almost everyone had a device like Cassiopeia's in their hands, and the signs to the stores flashed neon. About every single store that she remembered had been replaced with other stores that she was sure to steer clear of: Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle. Too many times she remembered being stupid and shoplifting from those stores. Most of the people paid no attention to the pair, but the people who noticed always seemed to rest their lingering gaze upon Katarina, narrowing their eyes with suspicion.

She was used to it, sure, it was nothing different from when before she went to prison, but it felt unnerving and different today. Cassiopeia, sensing her sister's discomfort, led her away from the mall's quad and they walked into a brightly lit store.

"Do you still wear makeup?" Cassiopeia questioned, already browsing the isles full of eyeliner and eyeshadows. She picked up the darkest eyeliner she could find and showed it to Katarina. "This one would look nice on you."

"Hmm... Maybe."

Katarina soon found herself intrigued with the various types of eye and lip makeup. Cassiopeia shadowed her, makeup advice and information sprouting from her lips every few seconds.

A little part of Katarina felt slightly patronized and irritated by Cassiopeia's presence, but she found it comforting.

Delight filled Katarina when she and Cassiopeia went to purchase several shades of red lipstick and dark eyeliner, some for her and some for her sister. Good memories of her childhood and teenage years filled Katarina's mind, and she decided she liked shopping in this decade.

The two girls made their rounds around the mall, stopping by foreign and familiar stores alike. By the time they sat down at the food court to eat, Katarina and Cassiopeia both held at least three bags with each hand. They mostly consisted of clothes and dresses and shoes, but Katarina had managed to get Cassiopeia to buy some nicely scented hand sanitizers and soaps.

They were both laughing about talking about old mutual friends and their whereabouts over a shared plate of Chinese food.

"You know Morgana has a bakery now with Pantheon," Cassiopeia told her sister. "They make amazing cupcakes. We should stop by on the way home."

"No way," Katarina exclaimed. "What happened to her–" She looked around and said quietly, "–black market business?"

Cassiopeia shrugged. "I guess her boyfriend talked her into leaving that behind. I think she used the money to buy the bakery, and the rest is going towards her wedding."

Katarina heaved a great sigh. Oh, what she had missed in prison. "She's getting married?"

"Mmhmm." Cassiopeia nodded vigorously. "Her and her business partner/boyfriend/fiancé, Pantheon."

"Ah... What about Sivir?"

Cassiopeia chuckled. "Me and Sivir had a falling out. Had a few instances where she tried to sabotage me at fashion show, and I of course had to get her back. One of the many reasons I left the industry, but let's just say that Sivir and I aren't on good terms."

"Just as expected, sister," Katarina replied. "Sounds like you've been having a great time."

"I've been managing... Oh, yes, Garen was asking about you some time ago."

Katarina groaned at the familiar name of her father's friend's son. "Garen Crownguard? He still remembers me?"

Cassiopeia nodded. "Of course. How can he forget someone who broke his arm in his senior year of high school?"

Katarina rolled her eyes. "He was being creepy." The remembrance of the boy who had been infatuated with her since childhood sent a ripple of irritation through her. "What did he want?"

"He heard about you going to prison and us losing just about everything, and he wanted to help us out in exchange for a date or two with you."

Katarina rolled her eyes once again. "And...?"

"I told him I'll let you decide when you get back to the real world."

Katarina smiled and nodded. "Good. I really don't have a desire to see him in the near future."

Katarina and Cassiopeia shared a laugh. Katarina raised her head and looked around the food court of the mall. She'd missed being free like this. No constraints on eating, talking, laughing. When she looked behind her, she caught the eye of a man that seemed to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

His eyes were narrowed and focused on hers, never wavering, and they were _golden._ He was sitting a few tables away from the du Couteaus, a cup of coffee in his hands but nothing more. He just stared at her, face stoic and unwavering eyes. Katarina let her eyes fall, but not before noticing his long brown hair tied back in a ponytail and his rather formal attire of a long navy trench coat and a black button down shirt under the coat.

He made no movement, so Katarina was first to turn back to her sister, who was still laughing and eating. A moment passed in silence between the two women, and when Cassiopeia was finished eating, she stood.

"Ready to explore more of the world you've missed out on?"

Katarina happily agreed and followed her sister to the path to their next shopping stop; but when she turned back to where she remembered the man was sitting, the chair and table were empty, and the man was nowhere in sight.

* * *

 _not the best chapter, but I've always been bad at second chapters. It's really strange_

 _but please favorite, follow, and review! thanks youss!_

 _Shevil_


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